Movie

Hard to Be a God

1990 · 119 min

A grim, thoughtful plunge into a brutal medieval world, watching a powerless observer wrestle with horror and his own conscience.

Overview: Another planet in the period of medieval times. An employee of the institute of experimental history from Earth, who is send under the name of noble don Rumata of Estor as a spy with a mission to contact the local resident of the institute, arrives in the city of Arkanar. But the resident perishes under an unlucky attempt to make a palace coup, and Rumata have to take his place as the resident. Soon he meets all the horrors of the medieval society - a peasant war, palace coups, mass executions. To continue to be an indifferent watcher of all these horrors turns out to be simply impossible...
How it feels: Dark, bleak, tense and earnest. Measured and needs your attention.
About: Power, corruption, morality, violence
Content: Strong violence. Mild gore, sexual content and language.
Note: Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Full breakdown

Tone: darkstrength 3 of 3
bleakstrength 2 of 3
tensestrength 2 of 3
earneststrength 2 of 3
Pacing: measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: power
corruption
morality
violence
isolation
Places: big city
fantasy world
Era: far-future
Audience: adult
Form: serialised
Content intensity: Gore mild
Language mild
Violence strong
Sex mild